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Peter Jackson Updates The Hobbit & Tintin

We recently learned that the script was done for at least the first part of Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro's highly anticipated adaptation of The Hobbit. It's now in the hands of the studio, who Jackson says, "seem to be happy with it."

Jackson talked, during a press conference for his drama The Lovely Bones, about the fact that he thought it'd be difficult to get back into the groove of writing "Lord of the Rings style" since it's been about 8 years since they wrote the script for that trilogy. However, once they got started it was "easy," said Jackson.

On top of that info about the first script being finished and handed in, Jackson spilled some more beans to the BBC, again during a press conference for The Lovely Bones. He talked about the fact that he's been scouting locations in New Zealand as possible places to shoot The Hobbit, which is currently in pre-production. He also mentioned that they're would be continuity between the film and LOTR:

"We're writing the screenplays with him, so in terms of the script, there is continuity."

Jackson also talked about the dialogue, particularly for Ian McKellen's Gandalf, who remember is younger (although presumably not in appearance) than he was in LOTR, as well as why he wanted del Toro to direct instead of him:

"We’re writing Ian McKellen’s dialogue just the same as we did in Lord Of The Rings. But Guillermo, being the director, will obviously take the script and interpret that and shoot his film. So that’ll be interesting to see."

"That's actually the reason I wanted him to do it. I felt like I'd be trying to compete with myself and deliberately do things differently, which is not the way I want to work. I want it to be natural."

Jackson went on to say that The Hobbit will be shot in regular film and NOT in 3D, as we've previously heard from del Toro. Those who are sick of the now much-used utilized technology can rest easy. Jackson says he didn't want to go 3D for the adaptation as he wanted it to stay in the same vein as LOTR. However, he didn't write-off the three-dimensional technology, saying it, "only adds to the experience." He did say he found an annoyance in that the image is a little dull, commenting that it's almost like watching a movie with sunglasses. However, he pointed out something like, "brighter bulbs in the projectors" would easily fix that problem.

Not disregarding 3D above is evident in his upcoming 3D-motion capture project, Tintin, which he also recently updated. A bit of bittersweet news has come out about it: the film - subtitled The Secret of the Unicorn - is in the can, but it will take two years for all the computer animation to be finished. Jackson had this to say:

"Tintin is great. It's made. The movie is cut together and now [we] are turning it into a fully-rendered film... So the movie, to some degree, exists in a very rough state."

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise to those who mark their calendars for all the latest (big) releases: Tintin was long ago revealed to have a release date of December 23rd, 2011. Two years sounds about right for it being on course to be released as and when planned. However, a full 24 months being devoted to adding the necessary computer animation is a lot, particularly when you look at the contrast in, for example, a film like Paranormal Activity which was shot in just one week.

As /Film suggests, the ever-advancing computer technologies might allow for the film to be finished before the two-year mark and we may see it earlier. In fact, an earlier October or November release is already in the cards for international audiences, as opposed to the December release for the U.S.

Are you glad there is going to be strong continuity between The Hobbit and LOTR in terms of dialogue and the fact it'll be in regular 2D and not 3D? Are you surprised Tintin's computer animation is set to take so long or does it sound about right to you?

Part 1 of The Hobbit is scheduled for a December 2011 release, with Part 2 following a year later in December, 2012.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secrets of the Unicorn is set to hit theaters in late October/early November internationally, and on December 23rd in the U.S., both in 2011.